The image size limit has been raised to 1mb! Anything larger than that should be linked to. This is a HARD limit, please do not abuse it.

Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

There is also a PAX group on Fitbit (but it's invite only to prevent randos from joining) so if anyone wants an invite to that just shoot me a PM.

And in case people stop checking the other thread, I'm bringing my reply to @chorazin about Fitbit over here:

It is SUPER DUPER awesome.

I love that it not only counts steps, but also how many flights of stairs. Since getting it, I now go to the bathroom on the 3rd floor of my building (I work on the 1st) every time, just to see how many flights of stairs I can get. And over the time I've had it (about 5 months) I've gone from an average of 5000 steps a day to over 7000.

Plus the monitoring your sleep thing? It helped me to notice that on days when I drink coffee, even in the morning, I wake up about twice as often at night! So I have cut my coffee drinking way down and now have more energy during the day.

And of course competing with other PAXers like skimblecat, peetsnack, and nakki for most steps, most activity points, etc is super fun.

To me? Totally worth the $99 bucks. Actually, it's totally worth $198 bucks apparently (since I did not hesistate to replace it when I lost mine!)

"The bass, the rock, the mic, the treble, I like my coffee black just like my metal." - MSI

This was my first week back at the gym since PAX (mostly due to a 4 day bout with the flu). Turns out that somewhere in the gap I dropped below 300 (first time in 9ish years). Now to figure out how to celebrate...

Edited the OP a bit, should be slowly getting things in. Getting close to finals time so working out has been marginalized a bit. After that, I'm planning on hitting this plan over the summer: bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-intro.html. Full 12 week plan, food guide included. I plan on taking pictures and uploading them (shirtless fat man will be spoilertagged if uploaded here) to track my progress. It'd be cool if anyone else wanted to go along with this.

Edited the OP a bit, should be slowly getting things in. Getting close to finals time so working out has been marginalized a bit. After that, I'm planning on hitting this plan over the summer: bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-intro.html. Full 12 week plan, food guide included. I plan on taking pictures and uploading them (shirtless fat man will be spoilertagged if uploaded here) to track my progress. It'd be cool if anyone else wanted to go along with this.

Hey Hey guys! I think we should all set some goals! I also think that it would be possible to create buttons/badges for PAX Fitocrats and Fitbi-... People on fitbit (=P). If someone has good ideas for a design for these, I would be willing to have them made and distribute! We've got plenty of time to think about it!

I am going to attempt to be able to do 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in 20 minutes in one continuous session by PAX Prime in August. Then for East '13, I want to try to complete the goal i failed this year and prove to myself that I can have a flat stomach(by no means do i mean a 6-pack... just... a 2-pack or 4-pack..[are those real!?]).

Hey Hey guys! I think we should all set some goals! I also think that it would be possible to create buttons/badges for PAX Fitocrats and Fitbi-... People on fitbit (=P). If someone has good ideas for a design for these, I would be willing to have them made and distribute! We've got plenty of time to think about it!

I am going to attempt to be able to do 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in 20 minutes in one continuous session by PAX Prime in August. Then for East '13, I want to try to complete the goal i failed this year and prove to myself that I can have a flat stomach(by no means do i mean a 6-pack... just... a 2-pack or 4-pack..[are those real!?]).

Those are some awesome goals!

We tried something similar last year, but it didn't completely pan out. I think I made it too complex.. I tried using stat-based leveling (ex. stronger = +STR, run/swim/bike faster/farther = +CON, lose weight = +CHA). Now that we have some steam (and active posters), I think you're right on. Personally, I want to drop 50 pounds before PAX East 2013.

Also, what do you guys think about making this all-encompassing PAX, not just limited to PAX East?

Hey Hey guys! I think we should all set some goals! I also think that it would be possible to create buttons/badges for PAX Fitocrats and Fitbi-... People on fitbit (=P). If someone has good ideas for a design for these, I would be willing to have them made and distribute! We've got plenty of time to think about it!

I am going to attempt to be able to do 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in 20 minutes in one continuous session by PAX Prime in August. Then for East '13, I want to try to complete the goal i failed this year and prove to myself that I can have a flat stomach(by no means do i mean a 6-pack... just... a 2-pack or 4-pack..[are those real!?]).

Those are some awesome goals!

We tried something similar last year, but it didn't completely pan out. I think I made it too complex.. I tried using stat-based leveling (ex. stronger = +STR, run/swim/bike faster/farther = +CON, lose weight = +CHA). Now that we have some steam (and active posters), I think you're right on. Personally, I want to drop 50 pounds before PAX East 2013.

Also, what do you guys think about making this all-encompassing PAX, not just limited to PAX East?

Yes to goals and yes to all of PAX. Now to just figure out what my new goals should be for PAX Prime.

exciting news! today I was able to download google chrome "frame" at work (they won't let me actually download chrome, goodness knows why) and now my stupid internet explorer will play much better w/ fitocracy, and I can actually track stuff. not being able to track from work (which is where I do 80% of my computer time in a given day) was a big disincentive for me to participate in the fitocracy challenge last time. so I'm really looking forward to starting to track more actively.

that plus my walking/stair climbing with fitbit, plus my weight watchers, should hopefully equally a really focused, really effective plan for the remainder of 2012 (into 2013). I am hoping to be at my goal weight by next PAX East (unfortunately, I can't go to Prime). I need to lose 30 pounds to get there, but I believe I can do it. I've got 11 months, so that's less than a pound a week. In general though, besides the number, I want to get back to a place where I am regularly exercising at least 4 or 5 days a week (which once upon a time I did) - right now it's more like once or twice, if that.

this group has really helped me stay focused, so I plan to do at least monthly check-ins with my weight to continue that motivation!

as to everyone else's news --

@direwolf - congrats on your amazing milestone!!@chorazin and @MASeffect and @adias.angel - so glad to have you on the fitbit train! @creamsteak you should jump on too! @baconsandwich that 12 week program is too intense for me at my current level, but I wish you good luck w/ it! I don't really care either way about expanding the group, but I won't be able to participate in any prime meetups. I'm fine with letting prime people in on our thread though.@redfield85 - hope your frankle gets better soon!! also, go rangers!@ishtra - agree, monthly check ins sounds good. also, you must share wedding dress pics when it's ready!! @vttym - good luck w/ your new goals! your losses have definitely been inspiring me!

everyone else (so hard to reply to everyone!) good luck w/ your goals and keep posting! much to all you awesome paxers.

browncoatbeth on April 2012

"The bass, the rock, the mic, the treble, I like my coffee black just like my metal." - MSI

So I don't mean to turn this into a fitbit Q&A but I was wondering, how well does it work for tracking workouts? I do yoga, weight lifting and soon to add Zumba. Should I be logging these separately into the activity tracker or does the fitbit interpret it well?

For me, it's not easy keeping focused on a goal for a long period of time, or achieving a goal set far into the future. Many of us are eyeballing PAX East 2013 as the next target (some, perhaps, gunning for Prime), which means trying to keep motivated for 11 or 5 months.

So I'm trying to break my goal down. First, I'm setting a final objective (be 200 lbs by East 2013, with some muscle tone). Then I'm taking that objective, and breaking it down to smaller goals I can use as both checkpoints and focus points. I know I have been lax since East 2012, and my weight has pretty much sat at the same place as a result (I'm even skipping days at the gym; I'm telling myself I'm resting my joints or letting a blister heal, but I know that 2 months ago, I wasn't using those excuses).

So I'm going to set mini goals for every 2 months. I probably should find a 5k or something to run every 2 months to keep myself honest, but regardless, I will try to stick to it. I am also looking to increase the distance I run in the morning. Just so it's out there in the world, I'll get my thoughts down here:

By 6/1 - 215 lbs (I'm hovering around 217 right now, and my son is due to be born in May, so I expect I'll have some issues hitting the gym for a few weeks). 3.75 miles in 35 mins (what I currently do - maintain for the reasons above)
8/1 - 210 lbs - 4 miles
10/1 - 205 lbs - 4.15 miles
12/1 - 200 lbs - 4.25 miles

Assuming I hit these goals in time, it will give me a few months to set new fitness goals for East 2013 - I don't want to lose more weight, but perhaps I can work on increasing my running if I feel so inclined, or mixing things up.

So forgive me if I throw updates here from time to time - I find putting it on the interwebs makes me accountable for what I'm doing, and the support you guys have provided so far has kept me honest. It's a shame there's only one chance to see you all each year ---

Tomorrow, it's back to the gym to make sure I'm on track for 215 by June

So I don't mean to turn this into a fitbit Q&A but I was wondering, how well does it work for tracking workouts? I do yoga, weight lifting and soon to add Zumba. Should I be logging these separately into the activity tracker or does the fitbit interpret it well?

The fitbit will log those things as "activity" of various levels, but it won't know that you're doing any of those individual things. I think that if you say you did some yoga between times X and Y, it will correlate that manual log entry with data from the fitbit itself. it's definitely good to do the manual entries if you can be time-accurate.

Hmm, I may be interested in jumping into some of these fitness dealies you guys are doing! I need motivation to get healthier in the next year, for sure. I'm not that heavy, but I am ridiculously out of shape, so while I may not do the calorie counting/weight watch quite as much, I'll keep an eye on the fitness side.

Also, for those of you about to buy a Fitbit, I found this deal on Slickdeals:

@Porkchop thanks for the heads up - after speaking to my wife, we decided that there can be room in the budget for a nice discounted fitbit.. so a blue one is now ordered. Very unexpected addition to my workout planning - thanks

Coolies And I totally will. I have the "before" shot - where I'm wearing the sample .... likely hitting the shop in a week. Sickness ruined my motivation and craving sweets threw off my numbers ... so I am hoping to lose the gained cushion before I go in, but if not - that's what corset-back dresses are for

I kinda like it being East only, makes it feel like a more tight knit group. But if it's open to Prime I'm sure I'll get over it.

I also like that i have more chance of meeting you guys in person, versus Prime, which I am unlikely to hit any time soon.

Made it back on my walking routine yesterday. Tried on Sunday to walk around the mall (rainy outside) but I was so drained from being sick, we didn't stay long. Yesterday was better - took it easy and did the shorter, less steep route. Hoping to be back to the regular hills tomorrow.